Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that trade negotiations with South Korea are "moving faster" than expected and that technical details could be available as soon as next week.
The 12 states that recently launched a lawsuit against all tariff action taken by President Donald Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act will begin working on a preliminary injunction motion against the tariffs "in the near future," Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield told us. Rayfield was confident in the prospect of being able to show that Oregon and its many public institutions will suffer "irreparable harm" without the injunction and that a judge will be willing to question the validity of Trump's declaration that bilateral trade deficits amount to an "unusual and extraordinary" threat.
Domestic and foreign automakers, auto dealers and MEMA, the suppliers' association, asked the treasury secretary, commerce secretary and U.S. trade representative to rescind the planned 25% tariff on auto parts, which is now planned for early May under a Section 232 national security action.
Comments from President Donald Trump and from a private talk by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on April 22 gave importers hope that the triple-digit tariffs on Chinese imports will drop soon. But Bessent, speaking to Bloomberg after a speech on April 23 at the Institute of International Finance, said there is no plan for the U.S. to drop its tariffs unilaterally, and that there is no timeline for engagement with China.
Twelve U.S. states led by Oregon filed a lawsuit April 23 against all of President Donald Trump's tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The states' complaint argues that Trump exceeded his authority as established in IEEPA, since the "annual U.S. goods trade deficits" are not an "unusual and extraordinary threat." The states also argue that neither the reciprocal tariffs, nor the tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico imposed to address drug trafficking, establish a sufficient nexus to the claimed emergencies (The State of Oregon v. Donald J. Trump, CIT # 25-00077).
Twelve U.S. states, led by Oregon, filed a lawsuit at the Court of International Trade challenging President Donald Trump's ability to impose tariffs using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The complaint contests all of Trump's tariff orders issued under IEEPA as a violation of both the statutory authority conveyed by IEEPA and the Constitution's principle of separation of powers. The suit, filed by Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, also challenges CBP's series of Cargo Systems Messaging Service notices implementing the tariffs under the Administrative Procedure Act.
A Section 232 investigation on the national security threat posed by the import of medium- and heavy-duty trucks and their parts will collect comments for three weeks, through May 16.
Experts predicted that a trade deal between the United States and China is unlikely in the short term and that any deal will depend on "some sort of down payment" by China before negotiations can begin.
A former staffer in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative during President Donald Trump's first term and a Harvard professor agreed on very little in a debate hosted by The Federalist Society on Trump's tariffs and trade policy.
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